ABSTRACT
The general conclusion of the studies of crowd behaviour could be stated in parallel to the old quip, about as follows: “People in a crowd behave about as they would otherwise, only-more so.” It is nevertheless true that this “more so” exists and is at times extremely important. Crowds and crowd-mindedness constitute a continual danger to an orderly social life, since they tend to suppress that rational canvass of alternative responses which makes possible an intelligent social policy. Even if crowds are occasionally useful in the survival of a society—as in fund-raising rallies or war emergencies—they are as patently dangerous a great part of the time—as in revolutions, riots, and lynching mobs.
